Pittsburgh Pirates News: Rule 5 Draft Still Expected to Take Place

While it will not take place when it was originally scheduled, the Rule 5 Draft is still expected to take place after MLB’s work stoppage ends. This will impact the Pittsburgh Pirates, as well as a the rest of baseball.

Part of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings each offseason is the Rule 5 Draft. The Rule 5 Draft was scheduled to take place today, Wednesday, December 8th. With the current work stoppage this obviously will not be the case. This takes away an opportunity for the Pittsburgh Pirates to add a talented, but potentially overlooked prospect from another organization to their roster. It should also be noted that the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft will still take place today.

Last season the Pittsburgh Pirates added two players via the Rule 5 Draft. With the first overall pick in the draft the team selected right-handed pitcher José Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels. Unfortunately for Soriano and the Pirates injuries caused him to miss the entire season, which led to him being designated for assignment earlier this offseason.

Through the Rule 5 Draft the Pittsburgh Pirates also added Luis Oviedo. After being selected in the draft by the New York Mets, Oviedo was traded to the Pirates. This led to Oviedo making his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2021.

Despite struggling with the Pirates the young righty was able to survive the entire season on the team’s active roster. Oviedo posted an 8.80 ERA and a 5.56 FIP while striking out 21.1% of batters faced and walking 17.7% in 29.2 innings pitched. Since Oviedo spent the entire season on the active roster with the Pirates he can open the 2022 season at the Triple-A level where the 22-year-old can work out of the rotation and work on harnessing his stuff.

To circle back to this year’s Rule 5 Draft, according to JJ Cooper of Baseball America, it is expected to take place after the work stoppage ends.

Earlier this offseason the Pirates protected outfield prospects Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba, and Jack Suwinski, as well as infield prospect Liover Peguero from the Rule 5 Draft by adding them to the 40-man roster.

However, the Pirates still have plenty of talented prospects who are being exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Pitchers Eddy Yean, Omar Cruz, Tahnaj Thomas, and Yerry De Los Santos, first baseman Mason Martin, catcher Carter Bins, and outfielder Cal Mitchell are all notable prospects who were left off the 40-man roster. To varying extents each of these prospects are possibilities to be lost in the Rule 5 Draft.

Whenever the draft does occur the Pirates will spend some time sweating it out. They will also have the opportunity to add to their roster. This will be something for fans to watch when the work stoppage ends, especially since it is hard to envision the Pirates not losing at least one player in this year’s Rule 5 Draft.